Apple Offers First Look at Its New Theatre for Product Launches [Photos]

Apple has offered Mashable a first look at the new Theatre being built at Apple Campus 2. The building will serve as the venue for future Apple product launches.

The Theatre is 120,000 sq ft in size with a capacity of 1,000 seats. Although the auditorium is below ground, it has a cylinder-shaped lobby that can be seen at ground level. The space is open without any columns, enclosed in glass, and has stairs that lead down to the event hall.

The roof is the most stunning part of the Theatre. Apple says it's probably the largest freestanding carbon-fiber roof ever made.

Created by Dubai-based Premier Composite Technologies, it’s a massive statement piece, in addition to a design feat. But please, Apple doesn’t want you to call it a UFO. The roof was added to the Theatre last month. The circular roof is made up of 44 identical radial panels averaging 70 feet long and 11 feet wide, and each connects to a small central hub positioned in the middle.

The roof was assembled and tested in a Dubai desert before being disassembled and shipped to Cupertino. It weighs 80 tons.

On the main structure, Apple has been using custom made 'Manipulators' to handle the placement of nearly 900 massive curved glass panels. Some of the panels are 46 feet long and 10.5 wide. Their installation is about 33% complete.

Most impressively, the entrance to the on-campus restaurant has two glass panel doors that span four stories high at 92x52 feet (about the size of a basketball court).

Construction is expected to complete by the end of the year and the campus should open in early 2017.